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[Eddie Owens]

I would like an experienced linux user out there to help me understand, what to me is a mystery.

I boot into Sugar, and get a terminal.  I place into a USB slot a USB thumb drive formatted as ext3, with Hardy on it, built per the instructions of Teapot (topic=2240, msg21169), or at least I don't think I varied from it very much.  When I type "mount" <enter> I get:

   for Nand: mtd0 on / type jffs2 (rw et cetera...)

   and

   for USB: /dev/sda1 on /media/OLPCRoot type ext3 (rw et cetera...)

However if I instead boot into Hardy, get a terminal and type "mount" <enter>, I get:

   for Nand: /dev/mtdblk0 on /media/olpcmtd0 type jffs2 (rw)

   and

   for USB: /dev/mmcblk0p1 on / type ext3 (rw et cetera...)

I guess the question is "Why does the label of the USB drive change when it goes from being passive to being the boot drive?".  Or is a question of the sort "Why is the sky blue?"  It just seems sorta sneaky to me to change the label on the user! I realize the Nand: changes names too, and I don't understand that either!!

[teapot]

I guess the question is "Why does the label of the USB drive change when it goes from being passive to being the boot drive?".  Or is a question of the sort "Why is the sky blue?"  It just seems sorta sneaky to me to change the label on the user! I realize the Nand: changes names too, and I don't understand that either!!

It's wrong because /dev/mmcblk0p1 remained in /etc/fstab where it should have /dev/sda1 . Edit /etc/fstab and reboot.

[Eddie Owens]

Thanks Teapot, you were quite right.  The entry in /etc/fstab was incorrect.  The interesting thing is that Hardy seemed to be functioning O.K. with that entry.  It is now corrected.

[amilcarodonte]

Thanks teapot for your answer on XFCE-vs-Fedora and SD vs NAND. I just read a thread on SDs comparing boottimes and it looks like SD is significantly faster than NAND. It also seems safer to keep the SD as a safe playground. I hope that OLPC soon releases a kernel with powersaving support.

I was wondering, though, how to make the distribution smaller (I only have 1GB in my SD). I wonder if anybody could help with these questions:

1) Is Epiphany leaner than Firefox? If so, how do you remove *all* firefox packages? I removed "firefox" but it didn't remove it. Firefox-3.0 would only eliminate 3MB. There must be other dependent packages used only by firefox that I could eliminate, I think.

2) How can I safely remove XFCE themes I don't use? Would I gain harddrive space?

3) What other currently installed packages do you recommend removing? I have removed so far Orage, but I wonder if people have other suggestions.

Thanks a lot!

[Eddie Owens]

Is it possible for the XO to print to a HPLJ 1020 printer attached to an XP desktop by USB?  The HPLJ 1020 does not have a network port.  I have "printer sharing" turned on in my XP Network Settings wizard.

The route of the signal would (hopefully) be XO => wireless router => ethernet cable => desktop => USB cable => HPLJ.  Can this work? 

If so, how do you do it?

In the Hardy "Printer Configuration - localhost", when I try to do things it keeps asking for a password, and "olpcolpc" does not work.  What am I missing here?

With Synaptic, I have downloaded > 100M of CUPS, Gutenprint, and other assorted stuff that looks like it might be relevant to printing, but I have not seen anything like an option to choose a HPLJ 1020.  What am I doing wrong?

[teapot]

I think, you have to enable root password on the box to be able to use CUPS, at least as far as its web interface is concerned ( http://localhost:631 ).

Update: just checked -- yes, you have to.

sudo -s
passwd root
exit

then go to http://localhost:631 in Firefox or whatever other browser you have on the laptop -- it will show CUPS web interface.

To talk to Windows printservers you will also need Samba client.

[Eddie Owens]

Teapot, I am still having trouble talking to CUPS.  I went to a terminal and typed in

     sudo -s
     passwd root
     exit

and the system reported back to that the "password was updated successfully".  However, I rebooted the system and when, in the Xubuntu startup sequence, after entering "olpc" for username, it rejected the new password I entered and only let me in after I entered "olpcolpc". 

And when I go to Xubuntu's "Settings/Printing/Printer Configuration - localhost", then check some Basic Server Settings, and click on "Apply", the process then asks for a "Password for OLPC on Localhost" - and neither "olpcolpc" nor the new password is accepted.

Also, if I open Firefox, and go to http://localhost:631, then I get the CUPS page, and when I try to make some server changes, I am again presented with username and password  fields, for username I give "olpc", and for password , neither "olpcolpc" nor the newly minted password is accepted.

What am I doing wrong?

[teapot]

Also, if I open Firefox, and go to http://localhost:631, then I get the CUPS page, and when I try to make some server changes, I am again presented with username and password  fields, for username I give "olpc", and for password , neither "olpcolpc" nor the newly minted password is accepted.

Username for that page is "root", password is the new password you entered.

Web interface is the "primary" CUPS interface that is supposed to work regardless of the other user-access configuration, I need to look further to see how to enable the access for GUI utility.

[teapot]

I was wondering, though, how to make the distribution smaller (I only have 1GB in my SD). I wonder if anybody could help with these questions:

1) Is Epiphany leaner than Firefox? If so, how do you remove *all* firefox packages? I removed "firefox" but it didn't remove it. Firefox-3.0 would only eliminate 3MB. There must be other dependent packages used only by firefox that I could eliminate, I think.

Epiphany is smaller on resources usage, but I haven't yet determined if it really would be smaller on disk -- it shares many dependencies with firefox and GNOME. I need to check how much space all epiphany and firefox dependencies use, however take into account that full installation of Firefox from "official" binaries (so all browser-specific dependencies are included) is 25M.

2) How can I safely remove XFCE themes I don't use? Would I gain harddrive space?

Default configuration in my tarballs uses Human-Green icons theme (based on Human but needs Tango icons theme instead of Tangerine), Ubuntu-Green-OLPC GTK theme (that is based on Blubuntu that in its turn needs ubuntulooks engine) and unchanged Blackwall xfwm4 theme. The rest of theme packages can be removed as long as they aren't dependencies of those mentioned (aptitude should show that, though the interface is not exactly straightforward).

3) What other currently installed packages do you recommend removing? I have removed so far Orage, but I wonder if people have other suggestions.

Orage takes up only 2.5M, so I guess, it will make sense for me to do some more cleanup and post a list of packages that can be safely removed, and themes are definitely among the first to go. Currently I am busy working on better camera support, and this is a project that I do at my spare time, so forgive me for delays.

[samphilomath]

1- Do anyone remember how to run  an sugar activities under Ubuntu. Not the Sugar Interface on Ubuntu, but just the activities. For example running "Record.activity"

2- how to switch to Monochrome mode under Ubuntu

Please post the instructions in clear details ( a newbie version )

[teapot]

1- Do anyone remember how to run  an sugar activities under Ubuntu. Not the Sugar Interface on Ubuntu, but just the activities. For example running "Record.activity"

It's possible to install sugar on Ubuntu from Ubuntu packages. There is a missing dependency on python-gst package -- install it before sugar and sugar-emulator. Once Sugar is installed, it becomes one of the possible session options in gdm (login screen).

For running sugar along with Xfce I have posted replacement files for sugar-emulator package that make Sugar run in fullscreen mode ( http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=2766.msg22390#msg22390 ). Xephyr X server that runs Sugar session runs on one of the virtual desktops, so use Ctrl-Alt-Left and Ctrl-Alt-Right to switch between that desktop and other two or three that can be used for other applications, or Alt-Tab to switch between windows. I don't recommend running large, memory-consuming applications along with sugar, and it may help to enable swap.

2- how to switch to Monochrome mode under Ubuntu

Please post the instructions in clear details ( a newbie version )

As root (after running su or sudo -s ):
echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/dcon/output

and

echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/dcon/output
I am going to add it to the scripts that are bound to brightness keys.

[samphilomath]

1- Do anyone remember how to run  an sugar activities under Ubuntu. Not the Sugar Interface on Ubuntu, but just the activities. For example running "Record.activity"

It's possible to install sugar on Ubuntu from Ubuntu packages. There is a missing dependency on python-gst package -- install it before sugar and sugar-emulator. Once Sugar is installed, it becomes one of the possible session options in gdm (login screen).

For running sugar along with Xfce I have posted replacement files for sugar-emulator package that make Sugar run in fullscreen mode ( http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=2766.msg22390#msg22390 ). Xephyr X server that runs Sugar session runs on one of the virtual desktops, so use Ctrl-Alt-Left and Ctrl-Alt-Right to switch between that desktop and other two or three that can be used for other applications, or Alt-Tab to switch between windows. I don't recommend running large, memory-consuming applications along with sugar, and it may help to enable swap.

2- how to switch to Monochrome mode under Ubuntu

Please post the instructions in clear details ( a newbie version )

As root (after running su or sudo -s ):
echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/dcon/output

and

echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/dcon/output
I am going to add it to the scripts that are bound to brightness keys.

Thanks for the reminder, really appreciate.
by the way, you miss understood the first request. I just want to run the Sugar based applications (Activities)  under Ubuntu via the terminal, not Sugar itself.

Here is clear example of what I am talking about
http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=1921.msg15803#msg15803

[JoeMac]

I found the "users and groups" GUI.  It was bundled together with a bunch of other graphical-based xfce tools in the "xubuntu-desktop" package availble through synaptic or aptitude. It's a rather large package, so it would have been nice if this had been available separately.  Oh well, I still have plenty of room on the SDHC card and I'll probably use most of the system tools eventually.

[teapot]

I found the "users and groups" GUI.  It was bundled together with a bunch of other graphical-based xfce tools in the "xubuntu-desktop" package availble through synaptic or aptitude. It's a rather large package, so it would have been nice if this had been available separately.  Oh well, I still have plenty of room on the SDHC card and I'll probably use most of the system tools eventually.

I have looked through packages -- the actual tool is in gnome-system-tools package that is included in xubuntu-desktop. It's still a large package with all its dependencies, but not nearly as large as xubuntu-desktop.

It's kinda ironic that after installing that package you need to create a group "admin" an add administrative users to this group -- what would still have to be done from command line:

addgroup admin
addgroup olpc admin

(add other users who should be able to use that tool -- though from that point the GUI tool works)

I don't know if this is automated by other packages.

[teapot]

I haven't done much visible work recently on Ubuntu-for-XO because:

1. I m still in the process of fixing camera recording with wxcam and mencoder.
2. Until two days ago I didn't have a development box running Hardy, so I had to constantly switch between versions until my "main" laptop caught up with upgrades.